[MaureenN]

Hello - I am interested in hearing experiences that others have had in trying to order food that is safe of allergens at the Montague or Norton Shores Dog 'n Suds. Just looking to see if there's a pattern to their treatment of patrons with food allergies.

You can contact me at eatingwithallergies@yahoo.com

Thanks!

[Bydand]

Frankly why would you go to an establishment like a Dog N Suds and expect them to do a special treatment in how they prepare or the ingredients, in food that is most likely sent in prepackaged anyway. Just more complaining about how the world should conform to the few, instead of the few going where they don't have to raise a stink.

[magellan]

I think the chances of finding someone who has had the same exact odd experience at the same exact place in an obscure town in West Michigan are about 1 in 1 Billion. This thread makes 0 sense.

If you had a bad experience, talk to the manager/owner. If they don't listen, then go somewhere else to eat.

[Neoabyss]

I work at Dog N Suds, Michigan.

We get really busy to dog n suds and people with food allergies are sometimes tough to deal with during busy times. We really don't deny people with food allergies service, or treat them like a pest, all we do is simply ask them to wait until we have some time to talk to them about thier allergy and what we can do to work with them. If you cannot wait a little while until we are less busy then yes, go somewhere else.

[Greg Anderson]

Yes to MaureenN.

There is your one in a billion magellan.

To the poster that works at dog n suds in michigan.
You should never describe your customers as pests and sure we will go somewhere else.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by Greg Anderson

To the poster that works at dog n suds in Michigan.
You should never describe your customers as pests and sure we will go somewhere else.

Not me, I like Dog N Suds.

If you would actually READ what the employee wrote instead of jumping down their neck, you would see they actually said "We really don't deny people with food allergies service, or treat them like a pest" They didn't say they treated them like pests at all. With the attitude you show here I have no doubt you WERE a pest though.

[MaureenN]

Actually, we've eaten at hundreds of restaurants over the course of my son's 9 years of life so far & have never been denied service at all, until this time. As a family, most places we eat at are fast-food or 'family restaurant' in style. I've never met anything but polite customer service (which is what I *did* get, too, from the *employees* at this Dog 'n Suds - just not from the owner/management). And, while you don't have to believe me, the conversations with restaurant staff have never been anything but kind, understanding, mutually respectful & friendly. We don't 'raise a stink' or demand that the world conform to meet our needs. We just ask to know the ingredients, where possible, on the food before we order, to make sure it's safe for our son.

We were not asked to wait a few minutes until we could get the help we needed to order at this restaurant, though. We have been asked that by restaurants in the past & have been more than happy to wait. We know that we're asking for them to do something differently to help us out & we're always appreciative when they do. I've met some wonderful restaurant employees & had some great experiences working together with them over the years. Most people in the world are kind to others. Most businesspeople know that their customers, all of them, even the ones who are only travelling through & only visit their establishment one time, are valuable to their business.

What we were told at Montague Dog 'n Suds, though was to go away & eat somewhere else. We were not asked to wait until the restaurant was less busy. The *immediate response* to our request to read the ingredient panel on the vendor-supplied hamburger buns was "No - he told me that you would have to eat somewhere else."

Not wanting to bother anyone while they were clearly busy, but still wanting to eat there - we'd planned this meal at this restaurant as part of our vacation - we followed up by ordering a plain hamburger patty for our son, asking only that they wipe the grill clean before cooking it. This would have taken all of 30 seconds.

Most restaurant managers & owners we've encountered in my son's life have told us (without our asking) that they regularly do this, anyway, thoughout the day, but always before preparing food for a food allergic patron. This is actually recommended by the ServSafe certification training that this restaurant owner has claimed to have received.

At that point, though, instead of seeing that I understood his busy-ness & was just going to work around it to go ahead & place my order in a way that was manageable for him - this restaurant owner decided to come out to the parking lot (which certainly took more time than wiping off the grill) and aggressively chastise me.

Anyway, I know that it's not likely that I will meet up with another patron who had the same experience on this message board. But, interestingly enough, within a day of this happening to me, I did find another family online who had a similar encounter with the restaurant owner *twice* (hoping that the first time, the year before, had simply been 'a bad day' for him), when asking for simple substitutions (one bun for another) when ordering for their food-allergic family members.

So, while it's not likely, especially as their customer base is probably 75% tourists, it's certainly possible and it won't happen at all if I don't try.

I do find it interesting, though, how much some of the follow-up posters on this thread know about my particular incident, seeing as I did not post any of that information in my original post...

[MaureenN]

Greg Anderson -

When you said 'Yes' to me, does that mean that you have ordered food for a food allergic person at that restaurant or at the Norton Shores one?

If so, will you please share your experience, good or bad? I'm just trying to see if our experiences were flukes, or if they are common business practice there.

You can send your reply to me at eatingwithallergies@yahoo.com , if you don't wish to reply publicly.

Thank you!

[chiroptera]

I've never hard of this place before this thread. I wonder, perhaps, if they were sued at some point over a food or allergy-related issue and simply don't want to take the chance again? Maybe hence the policy to not serve people who ask for accomodations or say they have allergies?

I am taking no sides nor making any judgement...from the OPs post they sounded unecessarily rude, but I don't know. I'm just tossing this out as a possible reason for the policy.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Greg Anderson

Yes to MaureenN.

There is your one in a billion magellan.

To the poster that works at dog n suds in michigan.
You should never describe your customers as pests and sure we will go somewhere else.

Yeah, pretty wild.

I think there's more to this story than meets the eye. Although, I've only been to Montague twice in my life, so I have no idea where this place is.